Today is the release date of GFantasy January issue which will contain Kuroshitsuji chapter135. The story of what kind of path Ciel has walked before the very first chapter of Kuroshitsuji has eventually entered the final stage. Please read it! – Toboso
Two of the “5 things Toboso hates the most in this world” were shown in Kuroshitsuji chapter135. I had my assistants set up the special spray brush material for this chapter. While using it to draw the last scene, I moaned like “Ughhh…. I can’t….” “Ewww…. I can’t look staight at it …”. – Toboso
*Note1: The 2 things Yana was referring to in the tweet are most probably 1. the thing the cultists did to the twins in the last scene and 2. moths (she hates insects).
*Note2: I’m not an artist and never used Clip Studio, so I have no clue what a “special spray brush material” is lol
I keep thinking about this in the shower and then immediately forget to make a post about it :’)a
So I’m pretty sure this is one step closer to confirmation that Noro is a highly-functioning kagune spore borne from the original OEK. Given time, I wonder if these ugly guys that came out of Kaneki’s kagune would also have eventually gained cognizance, defined features, etc, the same way that he may have.
Maybe when his life-force was running low, Eto was able to give him some strength with the strange power she gave to Banjou and Kaneki.
Aww, thank you so much! ❤ Honestly, considering how much I can ramble on a single subject in Kuro sometimes, I’m happy if I’m not boring everyone in the fandom! xD
You know, once I was told that my posts were too long so most of the time some people reblogged these posts because they had notes but without reading the whole thing……but I am finding that to be so funny somehow when with @thedarkestcrow we’re slowly coming to the realization that Kuro is…
hella complex, as in everything is probably linked.
So I can’t exactly make short posts when I want to speak of something in Kuro because there are always many aspects and details to take in consideration + I’m a chatterbox in nature so ehhhhh.
Anyway, all that to say that it’s my pleasure to share my many crazy thoughts about a series I love immensely, and even if I’m writing mainly for myself, I’m happy if somehow I’m not putting everyone else to sleep. xD
Please have a wonderful day Anon-chan and thanks again for the very sweet words! ❤
For the record, I don’t think they meant it as an insult or a bad thing, though?
I mean, iirc it came naturally in the discussion and you know, some people just don’t really care about delicacy. xD Tbh, I prefer people being straightforward than those sending hate or shade while hiding behind the anon mode.
It wasn’t a big deal though, I’m rather used to this kind of reaction (told you, I’m a chatterbox and IRL it has its advantages & drawbacks) and anyway, it’s my blog so either I change if I want to change, or I keep on going my own little way and there is no problem. :))
The truth is, I’m in studies that require that I always justify every point I make so it kinda became a habit and besides, I always felt I had to be as precise as possible for anyone reading my posts so that I wouldn’t create incomprehension or misunderstanding. Not everyone feels comfortable asking and we all have our own way to interpret a story, so reading someone else’s thoughts doesn’t always have to be easy.
Anyway, it’s all good from my point of view, people can think what they want. 🙂
Thanks for passing by Anon! Have a nice day. :3
soooo @hitsugikuro, remember when we discussed UT’s ring and your post about the “fleur-de-lys” pattern on it? Well, if UT’s ring and the Phantomhive ring aren’t linked together (since the Phantomhive ring also has this pattern), I think I will eat one of my shoes. xD
I dare say that I personally always thought that the Shinigami organization might not allow newcomers to keep on personal effects from their previous life (since being a Shinigami is a punishment), so what if UT’s ring was initially not UT’s ring because it used to belong to the Phantomhive family?
This screams Claudia or Vincent there again, but I so wouldn’t be surprised if somehow initially there were 2 Phantomhive rings (one for the Earl and one for his lady, for example) and UT was given one of them, sometimes during the last 50 years.
Otherwise maybe UT was one of the very first Phantomhives before he killed himself.
Hi! Okay so, I’m not sure of what exactly you’re asking, since you’re wondering about relevance but at the same time all your examples about Touka are relevant to explain her character, but anyway I’ll try to expand.
First of all, maybe it’s a question of word choice, but as an “individual” your only role is to exist and live your life to me, so I’ll personally speak about Touka’s characterization instead:
You were wondering about why Touka fights even though all she wants is a peaceful life? Well, what good is your “peaceful life” if there is no one by your side?
So the reason Touka fights is not because she believes in coexistence and thinks that her peaceful life will come along with it. On the contrary, she sees her own species in a more negative light than humans, going as far as to not even see herself as someone who would ever be “beautiful” because “she’s a ghoul”.
No, the reason Touka fights is because she can’t just live while losing things and people. Not anymore. Initially, this philosophy was one she probably tried to live by between TG and :Re after Yomo told her to run away from the 20th ward:
But after Kaneki/Haise came back, this philosophy began to shatter. She went to help Tsukiyama’s escape during the Roze arc, she went with Ayato to save Hina in Cochlea and now…
She’s most likely going to save her husband.
Again, this has nothing to do with coexistence. She doesn’t want to save “the one eyed king, so that he’ll stop rampaging through Tokyo and kill humans”, rather she wants to save her husband because she loves him and because
…she’s building a family with him.
And I spoke about this before, even if it’s not really the subject here, but Kaneki is exactly the same. The OEK role was initially given to him by Eto and Arima, and the only reason he accepted was because at the time he had nothing else to focus on in order to keep on living. It’s different now, because of his love for Touka and yearning for a future with her, which is the main reason he ended up going berserk recently:
So you could call that “selfishness” if you want, but looking at the whole story, Touka and Kaneki are characters who could be summed up (in my opinion) by “I was selfless for a long time and I really tried to help everyone else, but now fuck it I come first”.
That’s why deep down neither actually give a single care about the current conflict. Or well, they do, because ending it means their friends not dying anymore and that Kaneki will stop being a leading figure, but ultimately it’s about themselves, not about making the world a better place (they might eventually come to that though, for their child’s sake, but it’s not the case right now).
Back to Touka, one of her biggest issues to solve in my opinion before she get to live a peaceful life would be finally accepting that ghouls aren’t inferior to humans, which is something she doesn’t see right now but which might change…
through finding out what happened to Arata, since his fate is one more proof that the CCG, a human organization, did terrible things too
through meeting again with Yoriko, who now knows about Touka being a ghoul and who still sees her as a precious friend anyway
through giving birth to her baby, which would help her with seeing herself in a different light.
Finally, if we were to speak more generally of Touka’s relevance in the story (since it seemed to be your original question), then I think the one mistake not to make on the subject (and that unfortunately more than a few readers do) would be to define her character based on the romance between her and Kaneki.
In fact, both Touka and Kaneki, even if they were described to be a set, are not solely defined by the mutual love they share. They exist as two different individuals and falling in love with each other is but one part of their respective characterization.
Anyway, so if I were to give an image to explain Touka’s relevance from my point of view, I’d describe her as everyone’s pillar of strength. Example: to be quite honest, even as a huge fan of hers, I was almost convinced that Tsukiyama would be the one leading ghouls during that common front with the CCG, but guess what…
I was wrong. And it’s extremely interesting because, as I was saying above, Touka isn’t and doesn’t want to be a leader.
She isn’t even vouching for this common front because it’s important for the ghouls’ rebellion and for coexistence, nope, and yet she’s the current leader figure after Kaneki went Dragon, which speaks a lot about how many characters look up to and respect her because of what she represents and did for them.
Even Yomo, who used to be like a mentor figure and who was the one who told her that “they could only live while losing things”, apparently left that philosophy aside too, probably because seeing Touka and Kaneki falling in love and wanting to build a future for themselves changed his mind.
So Touka’s relevance as a character has always been like a huge light shoved in the readers’ face throughout the whole story in my opinion, which is why I’m baffled whenever I read people saying “she isn’t doing anything” or “she’s just Kaneki’s love interest”.
In fact, that’s the contrast with Hide’s own relevance as a character to the story (since people who shit on Touka generally love his character). He’s as relevant as she is, but it’s for different reasons and it’s also not expressed similarly in the story because of his strong shady game, which is why both their dynamic with Kaneki are interesting.
In other words, Touka and Hide are both relevant, but for Touka it’s written in an almost blinding way while Hide shines too, but it’s as if it comes from behind the stage TG’s story takes place on.
There, it was long, sorry for rambling. Anyway, I don’t know if this helps? You seemed to be wondering about Touka’s relevance as a character, so I hope I could at least answer this, if that’s what you meant.
Have a nice day Anon. 🙂
Hi Anon! Well, I think freeing him depends on the cooperation between many characters as we could see until now (like the Qs, who will surely team up again to stop him once they’re done fighting amongst themselves).
However, ultimately I think he will fall into Touka’s arms as he’s released from Dragoneki, because as I explained above,
Touka is the main reason he became Dragoneki
and, even though Touka seems to be leading the ghoul party of the current common front, she’s only here because she wants to save Kaneki
So I find that it’s very fitting for Touka to be the first person Kaneki will see, before he sees the Qs, everyone else and finally Hide, his best friend. :)) Besides, I agree with Miza:
it would truly be a happy sight, despite all that Dragoneki did and before consequences of everything since ch144 hit them.
I hope it answers your question, have a nice day Anon. ^_^
Ishida seems to be a fan of including parallels to everything and this current confrontation with the Qs actually has several ones to the fight between Amon/Takizawa/Akira trio and the Qs. Firstly the Qs lead by Urie arrive to where Mutsuki is in two very similar panels.
Then Urie ends up sweeping Mutsuki’s issues under the rug and instead focuses on his job. Back in Rushima he noticed that Mutsuki was dangerous, but chose to fight Amon instead and in chapter 154 he doesn’t bring up Mutsuki’s issues up at all and holds Mutsuki back so that Touka can go and continue the mission.
In both instances the main enemy took the priority, first Amon and now the Dragon. Amon funnily enough has been connected to Dragons in the past so he and his kakuja can be considered a mini boss version of Kaneki. Someone made a great meta about it long time ago here [x], but it’s still relevant and shows how Kaneki and Amon are connected in this situation. Back in Rushima the Qs worked together to take Amon down and they have been foreshadowed to take the Dragon down as well.
Urie prioritizing his job doesn’t sit well with Mutsuki though. Back in Rushima the same happened when Mutsuki attacked Akira despite her being their mentor. In that situation Akira betrayed Mutsuki and sided with a ghoul that tried to kill them and now Urie is siding with a ghoul that Mutsuki despises. All this after Mutsuki was kidnapped and tortured by a ghoul and they had to save themselves, because nobody came to rescue them in time. Mutsuki feels betrayed and therefore ends up attacking both Akira and Urie.
Mutsuki also thinks it is going to be fine if they kill the person in question for betraying them. They are a bit uncertain about it though with Akira and seem to be grabbing their shirt when talking to Urie. [x]
Urie very clearly parallels Akira, but Mutsuki also shares parallels with Takizawa. Mutsuki betrayed by their loved ones is in a similar situation as Takizawa was in Rushima. He managed to even kill Houji and is trying to kill Akira despite deeply caring about her.
Therefore the relationship Akira and Takizawa have is being paralleled right now with Urie and Mutsuki. One is a CCG investigator trying to do their job and the other is a crazy ghoul that has committed lots of sins.
Now to get to the prediction part of this post, I do believe that Urie and Mutsuki after this confrontation will be fine just like Akira and Takizawa were. A lot of people say that Mutsuki is irredeemable, but in the end anything they’ve done is not any worse than what Takizawa has done. The two share very similar character arcs, they both started as two innocent and happy people, ended up going through traumatic events and then only wanted to return to the happier days of the past even though it was impossible. Takizawa tried to help Akira and Houji in the fight with Tatara so that he would be accepted back into CCG and Mutsuki chased after Sasaki, the symbol of those old happy days.
Mutsuki and Takizawa are basically the same, but what happened to Takizawa was not him being killed by his friends, but them giving him a chance.
So why should Mutsuki die when Takizawa ended up getting redeemed? What Mutsuki needs is the same treatment Takizawa got and they have also been foreshadowed to take down Dragon with rest of the Qs. Mutsuki can’t die yet therefore they should switch sides like Takizawa and end up cooperating.
Now, remember what it was that did this to Takizawa? That was Akira shielding her from Mutsuki’s attack. As I explained with the parallels, Akira and Urie are the same while Takizawa and Mutsuki are the same therefore a parallel for this scene would be Mutsuki injuring Urie and Urie doing an act of kindness to Mutsuki. What this set up is also similar to is the scene back in chapter 29 when Urie injured Mutsuki and Mutsuki comforted Urie. It’s actually identical, but the roles are just reversed. This is also the scene that made Urie develop feelings for Mutsuki.
There is build up for a parallel to this scene as explained here [x] and it is also about time Urie returned the favor to Mutsuki. He has been saved twice like this by both Saiko and Mutsuki after going out of control so it makes sense that he learns from their example and does the same to someone else. Another connection this scene has with Akira shielding Takizawa is her motives. She throws her job aside and does what she truly wants to do and protects Takizawa. Urie might always put his job first, but in the end all he wants is a family. Like Akira he values his personal relationship with Mutsuki more than his job.
Akira also finally opened up to Takizawa and expresses her regret of not stopping him in time. A regret Urie probably relates to considering he had all the chances in the world to confront Mutsuki and stop them, but was too afraid to do it in the end. Urie has issues with always keeping his mouth shut so this is the perfect opportunity for him to overcome this flaw.
This is why I feel like another hug is inevitable at this point and also why Mutsuki still has a chance to be redeemed. If Takizawa was redeemed, why not Mutsuki? Mutsuki also shares a lot of parallels with Kaneki so if Kaneki can be redeemed after this mess, why not Mutsuki? I also made another post about why I feel like this scene of Urie and Mutsuki communicating clearly with each other will happen here [x] I don’t know, it just strangely feels like there’s a lot of buildup for Mutsuki’s redemption and a hug.
Thank you so much for this, friend! It’s also interesting to me that Takizawa ate his parents, Mutsuki killed his, etc, and that Amon and Saiko are connected… maybe Saiko will be the Amon in this scenario?
Yeah, she will! I got lazy and didn’t talk about Saiko and Amon, but they definitely are paralleled. Amon kind of passed the baton to her by saying this:
She will be relevant in the end like Amon was, but the focus will be on Urie and Mutsuki for the most part.
midnight-in-town 